Lifetime Prisoners and The Revolving Door: Why Our Prisons Fail at Rehabilitation and Safety

Many prisoners who leave prison after their sentence will be the same or worse-off then when admitted. They will still be illiterate, uneducated, violent, mentally ill, and/or drug addicted. Due to minimum sentencing laws for drug offenders, prisons are overflowing, and 95 percent of all inmates in prison will be released. 1 Half of those 95 percent are serving sentences of two years or less. 2 

Experts and common sense contend that the more rehabilitation programs provided, the less likely criminals are to return to their old ways. One such program is commonly cited: education, especially higher education. Experts contest that the more education one can receive, the better off s/he will be once released. Many critics of prison educational programs ask why they should pay tax dollars to educate the person who stole their wallet? The answer is simple because it makes them safer. However, most inmates don’t get the programs necessary for rehabilitation and/or education. Only 12 prisons out of 5,000 nationwide have higher education programs. 3

The major problem is that we return prisoners to society, unable to succeed and fulfill a crime-free, productive life. “Offenders emerge from prison afraid to trust, fearful of the unknown, and with a vision of the world shaped by the meaning that behavior had in the prison context.” 4 Another huge hurdle is individuals who have never known anything but prison or have been in the system so long that they have become accustomed to such surroundings. This perverse view of home and security is perfectly portrayed in the National Geographic documentary Prison Nation by two prisoners. Morine Green has been in and out of prison for the last 20 years, fearing the day that is rapidly approaching when she will leave prison. 

"I’ve, um, started when I was 7 years old, I’m 37 now and I’ve done basically all my life in prison. I’m most comfortable, and I hate to say that, here in prison. I feel more safe here. I feel more loved here. I feel valued here, respected here.” Joseph Shotgun Harman from pelican bay conquers, “This is my comfort zone. This is where I feel most comfortable. Not out there. Not in your front yard, not in your house in the middle of the night while I’m stealin everything you got and I got you tied up, torturing you or whatever. I feel comfortable right here on this yard with wars jumping off, stabbings all around me. That’s where I feel comfortable. That’s where my mind is the most clear and focused." 5

Craig W. Haney is a Professor of Psychology at the University of California. He holds a Ph.D, M.A., and J.D. from Stanford University, a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, is co-author of two books on the American prison system, and sole author of his own publication, Reforming Punishment: Psychological Limits to the Pains of Imprisonment. The following is his view about how prisoners retreat from the free world. 

"You can go up to Pelican Bay on any given day, and… there will not be a single visitor in the visiting room. It’s 1,500 miles from southern California and, when you get there, your inmate is brought out in chains and put into a little booth. The only thing you can do is talk to him over a telephone and look through a great big, thick glass partition. You can’t even touch their hand. And what happens is that these guys paradoxically retreat further and further into themselves, and so they discourage even the visitors who are willing to endure all of that, because they become very uncomfortable around people. The people with the worst prospects for successfully adjusting to the free world once they’re released from prison are those who come out with nobody to rely on. These places [referring to prisons] are about as dysfunctional as you can imagine for providing them with resources to make that transition [back to society] work." 6 

Very few convicts have marketable skills. In Green’s case, she has no college or even high school degree. She has no resume and a criminal record that will rule her out of almost all jobs. It is easy to see why, although 700,000 inmates are released from American prisons each year, two out of three will return within three years. The drug rehabilitation, or the lack thereof, is so bad that 34 percent of drug users end up behind bars within one year. 7 

It is easy to see why prisoners still commit crimes once released and end up back in prison. They have no means of supporting themselves. Individuals who come out of prison drug addicted, without a job, or a house will fail and end up where they came. 

1. “Government & Public Affairs.” American Correctional Association. No Date, seems to be published around 2001. 

2. “Lockdown: Prison Nation.” National Geographic. Explorer. DVD. 2006

3. “Lockdown: Prison Nation.” National Geographic. Explorer. DVD. 2006

4. Espejo, Roman. America’s Prisons. Opposing Viewpoints Series, Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2002. p. 29

5. “Lockdown: Prison Nation.” National Geographic. Explorer. DVD. 2006

6. Espejo, Roman. America’s Prisons. Opposing Viewpoints Series, Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2002. p.98

7. “Lockdown: Prison Nation.” National Geographic. Explorer. DVD. 2006

Thanks for reading! Please comment!

Other Related blog(s): Sociology of Love, Lyceum Recordz